Former Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley said he would not be running in the 2020 presidential election, throwing his support behind Texas Democrat Beto O’ Rourke on Thursday morning.
O’Malley, who ran for president in 2016 unsuccessfully, said in an op-ed published in the Des Moines Register he believes the country needs a “new leader who can bring us together” and someone who will be a “unifier and a healer.” He believes that person is O’Rourke, who lost his Senate bid against Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the Nov. 6 midterm election.
“O’Rourke has the wisdom to listen, the courage to lead, and a rock-solid faith in the powerful goodness of our nation,” O’Malley wrote. “Because he is of a new generation, O’Rourke understands that a new way of governing — with openness, transparency, and performance — is called for to tackle our problems in the Information Age. And because he is from a border state, O’Rourke understands the enduring symbol of our country is not the barbed wire fence, it is the Statue of Liberty.”
On Friday, President Trump froze pay rates for the civilian federal work force, canceling their automatic 2.1 percent raise for 2019. It’s the right decision, notwithstanding the howls of union bosses and Democrats. And it’s far more consequential than the mere delay of workers’ paychecks during the shutdown.
Federal workers already collect bigger salaries, on average, than workers in the private economy doing comparable jobs. Their benefits packages are also on average 47 percent fatter, according to the Congressional Budget Office. They get up to 49 paid days off a year. And firing them is often impossible.
Then, at age 55, if they’ve put in 30 years, they get a gold-plated retirement package almost unheard of in private enterprise, including defined benefits that protect them from inflation.
In short, federal employees are riding the gravy train, and the rest of us working stiffs who pay the taxes to support the federal government are taken for a ride.
No wonder Trump is applying the brakes. In his 2018 State of the Union speech, the president promised to “reward good workers,” who are the vast majority, and “remove federal employees who undermine the public trust.”
One of the most powerful Democratic City Council members in Chicago has been charged with extortion, accused of trying to shake down a fast-food restaurant seeking remodeling permits, said a federal complaint unsealed Thursday.
Alderman Ed Burke, 75, is charged with one count of attempted extortion for conveying to company executives of a Burger King in 2017 that they’d get the permits if they signed on as clients at his private property tax law firm, the 37-page complaint said.
A conviction carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
Burke made an initial appearance on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. A preliminary hearing is set for the afternoon of Jan 18.
The Democrat’s law firm, Klafter & Burke, represented the high-rise tower that bears President Trump’s name. There’s no indication the case is at all tied to his firm’s work for Trump.
More US troops will be deployed to the Southern border to "construct or upgrade" 160 miles of fending, as well as provide medical care to thousands of migrants arriving from Central America, reports NPR, citing military sources. The Pentagon will foot the bill out of its discretionary funding for the deployment and fence construction along the California and Arizona borders with Mexico.
Word of the deployment comes amid a heated battle over $5 billion in funding President Trump has demanded for a southern border wall, which is currently at the center of a partial government shutdown.
The move comes as President Trump continues to demand $5 billion from Congress for border security and a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congressional Democrats oppose the move, and parts of the federal government have been shut down because of the impasse.
The Department of Defense has not been affected by the shutdown. -NPR
The request for more troops to shore up the US-Mexico border was made by the Department of Homeland Security - which will add to the deployment of some 2,300 active duty troops on the border as well as 2,100 National Guard troops. Those deployed will include aviation units and combat engineers.
Democratic Virginia Rep. Jennifer Wexton placed a transgender flag outside of her office on Capitol Hill after being sworn in Thursday.
Wexton defeated two-term incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock in the November elections, and has become just the second Democrat ever to represent Virginia’s 10th district in the House of Representatives.
Judicial Watch has announced that it signed a settlement agreement with the State of California and County of Los Angeles under which they will begin the process of removing from their voter registration rolls as many as 1.5 million inactive registered names that may be invalid. These removals are required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
The NVRA is a federal law requiring the removal of inactive registrations from the voter rolls after two general federal elections (encompassing from 2 to 4 years). Inactive voter registrations belong, for the most part, to voters who have moved to another county or state or have passed away.
Los Angeles County has over 10 million residents, more than the populations of 41 of the 50 United States. California is America’s largest state, with almost 40 million residents.
Judicial Watch filed a 2017 federal lawsuit to force the cleanup of voter rolls. Judicial Watch sued on its own behalf and on behalf of Wolfgang Kupka, Rhue Guyant, Jerry Griffin, and Delores M. Mars, who are lawfully registered voters in Los Angeles County. Judicial Watch was also joined by Election Integrity Project California, Inc., a public interest group that has long been involved in monitoring California’s voter rolls.
For a variety of different reasons, there is a growing proportion of young adults that are living with their parents in the United States.
As of 2017, it’s estimated that 34.5% of young adults (18-34 years old) in the U.S live at home – one of the highest percentages in recent memory. How does this national average compare to individual states, and how does data break down further by age and gender over time?
Living at Home
Today’s interactive map comes to us from Overflow Data, and visualizes data at the state level, showing a wide range from 16% (D.C., North Dakota) to closer to 47% (New Jersey).
Here are the five states with the highest proportion of young adults living at home: New Jersey is the surprising leader here, with 47.3% of young adults between 18-34 years living at home. This is at least partially a result of the state’s proximity to big cities like New York City and Philadelphia, in which young adults choose to commute instead of renting or buying places in those cities themselves.
With higher housing costs and rents, it’s also not surprising to see other states with large populations like California, Florida, and New York as being well represented at the top of the list.
Bre Payton was a writer for the conservative online news magazine The Federalist and a guest commentator on the Fox News Channel. And she was a rising star.
“From the moment we started talking I realized she was a potential star,” Ben Domenech, the publisher of The Federalist, said in an essay on Saturday. “She was raw, yes, but that could be honed. She was eager to learn, to write, and to go places—not because of ambition, but because she wanted to change the world.”
She seemed unafraid to take on things that mattered, including breaking the hard-hitting piece DOJ Destroyed Missing Strzok/Page Text Messages Before The IG Could Review Them on December 13th, where, unlike the mainstream media who later focused on the idea that there was ‘no evidence’ that these text messages were deliberately destroyed, Payton leaned towards the conclusion that there was criminal intent in these deletions, a notion supported by Donald Trump.
And then she died suddenly on Friday in San Diego. She was 26.
I don’t have any definitive ‘proof’ for the notion that Payton was killed because she was going to disclose some type of sensitive information against the Deep State; however, it must be said that the cause and circumstances of her death are befuddling enough for one to consider such an idea. My only intention is to explain the facts and allow you to draw your own conclusions.
Chicago will begin cracking down on unsupervised teens hanging out at the city's Water Tower Place - the city's original "vertical mall" according to the Chicago Sun Times. A so-called "parental guidance required" policy will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday, as trained public safety officers will ensure that anyone without a valid photo ID confirming they are at least 18 years old won't be allowed into the mall without a parent or other adult who is at least 21 years old, according to mall owner Brookfield Properties in a Thursday press release.
Incident: Possession with Intent to Distribute Heroin Large Amount, Possession of Firearm during a Drug Trafficking Crime
Date of Incident: December 15, 2018
Location: 500 Block of Emory Court, Salisbury, Wicomico, Maryland
Suspects:
Travis Mcquay Green, 38 years of age, Salisbury, MD
An’shanae Renise Peterson, 23 years of age, Salisbury, MD
During the past several months, the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigation Division (hereinafter referred to as CID) have been conducting an investigation into Travis Green selling cocaine from two apartments located in the 500 Block of Emory Court, Salisbury, Wicomico County, Maryland. As a result of the investigation, CID obtained Search and Seizure Warrants for the two apartments and Green’s person.
On December 15, 2018, at approximately 0411 hours, members of the Salisbury City Police Department’s Tac Team along with members of the Maryland State Police Gang Enforcement Unit, made entry into the two apartments without incident. Travis Green and his girlfriend, An’shanae Peterson were located asleep in the bedroom.
The apartments were searched in accordance to the guidelines set forth in the Search and Seizure Warrant and as a result the following items were seized:
87.88 grams of marijuana
17.1 cocaine
39.35 grams of crack cocaine
33.2 grams of blue heroin (Suspected Fentanyl blend)
69.5 heroin
Total heroin – 102.7 grams
$1,099 in US currency
2 digital scales
Cocaine/heroin aluminum press
Loaded .38 cal special revolver
Numerous rounds of ammunition
Sandwich baggies
2 Cellular phones which were an asset in furthering the investigation
Green and Peterson were both arrested and released to the Wicomico County Detention Center. Green and Peterson were held without bond.
Charges:
CDS: Possession with intent to Distribute: Narc
CDS: Possession with intent to Distribute: Narc
CDS: Possession with intent to Distribute: Narc
CDS: Possession with intent to Distribute: Narc
CDS Possession with intent to Distribute
CDS: Possession-Not Marijuana
CDS: Possession-Not Marijuana
CDS: Possession-Not Marijuana
CDS: Possession-Not Marijuana
CDS: Possession Marijuana 10GM+
CDS Possession- Large Amount
Firearm Possession during the commission of a Drug Trafficking Crime
Looks like role as House Speaker off to a great start
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared confused when her acceptance speech ran short Thursday.
After giving a rather short statement on reclaiming her former title as House Speaker, Pelosi was overheard on a hot mic claiming she “skipped a couple of pages” of her speech.
Location: 4000 block of Coulbourn Mill Road, Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Andrew R. Parsons, 52, Fruitland, MD
Narrative: On 31 December 2018 at 9:11 AM, a deputy responded to a report of an uninvited subject inside a residence. Upon arrival, the deputy learned that a guest who had spent the night, identified as Andrew Parsons, had been escorted from the property earlier that morning and told not to return. Parsons presumably returned to his own residence at that time. Shortly thereafter, Parsons made the decision to return to this residence to gather items he would later say he had forgotten. Upon arriving back and finding no one home, Parsons entered through an unsecured door.
The resident returned home to discover Parsons sleeping in her bed.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the deputy placed Parsons under arrest and transported him to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner detained Parsons in the Detention Center in lieu of $20,000.00 bond pending a District Court Bond Review.
Charges: Burglary 4th Degree and Trespassing
Incident: Possession of Crack Cocaine
Date of Incident: 31 December 2018
Location: Salisbury Blvd. at Zion Rd., Salisbury, MD
Suspect: Fawn L. Glacken, 23, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 31 December 2018 at 11:14 AM, a deputy stopped a vehicle for speeding in which Fawn Glacken was a passenger. Based on observations made by the deputy of Glacken, the deputy suspected she was impaired by a controlled dangerous substance. A subsequent sheriff’s Office K-9 scan of the vehicle yielded a positive alert for the presence of the odor of illegal drugs which then caused a search of the vehicle. During the search the deputy found Glacken to be in possession of both Crack Cocaine and a smoking device.
The deputy placed Glacken under arrest and transported her to the Central Booking Unit where she was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner released Glacken on Personal Recognizance.
Charges: Possession of Crack Cocaine and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Incident: Possession of Marijuana / Flee and Elude
Date of Incident: 2 January 2019
Location: Wicomico County
Suspect: Jakeem K. Jackson, 19, Salisbury, MD
Narrative: On 2 January 2019 at 2:01 AM, a deputy initiated a traffic stop on a Cadillac that would found to be operated by Jakeem Jackson. Instead of stopping, Jackson accelerated away from the deputy who gave pursuit. Jackson fled through Salisbury’s Camden Avenue Neighborhood on various residential streets before crashing into a shed in the area of Alabama Avenue.
Jackson immediately exited his vehicle and attempted to elude the deputy on foot. Jackson was apprehended during the foot chase.
It was discovered that Jackson had marijuana in his possession, in an amount indicative that it was intended for sale. It was also discovered that Jackson did not have a license to drive a vehicle.
The deputy transported Jackson to the Central Booking Unit where he was processed and taken in front of the District Court Commissioner. Following an initial appearance, the Commissioner detained Jackson in the Detention Center without bond pending a District Court Bond Review.
Charges: Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Distribute , Driving Without a License, Attempt to Flee and Elude, Reckless Driving, Negligent driving, Aggressive Driving, Failure to Stop for a Stop Sign, Leaving the Scene of an Accident
Incident: Found Property
Date of Incident: 1 January 2019
Location: Wicomico County
Narrative: On 1 January 2019 a deputy recovered a hunting rifle that was located unattended on a property on the east side of Wicomico County. The rifle was located inside a case.
At this time both the identity of the owner of this rifle and how it ended up on the property in question is unknown. The Sheriff’s Office is asking for anyone who may have recently lost a hunting rifle to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 410-548-4890. Anyone who believes they may be the owner of this item must be able to provide an accurate description and proof of ownership.
Laurel - The Delaware State Police is seeking the public’s assistance in attempting to locate a suspect who is wanted in connection with an attempted burglary.
The incident occurred on December 17, 2018 at approximately 7:56 p.m., when Troopers responded to a residence in the 34000 block of Columbia Road for a report of a burglary in progress. Upon arrival, Troopers learned that 31-year-old Jamere D. Knox of Salisbury, MD (no photo available) had arrived at the residence with several subjects. Knox proceeded to attempt to kick in the front door to the residence and threaten his ex-girlfriend. During this incident there was a 23-year-old female, 49-year-old female, and 3-year-old child inside of the residence. Prior to the Troopers arrival, Knox fled the area. There were no reports of injuries.
Troopers have been unable to locate Knox who is currently wanted out of Troop 5 for the following: Attempted to Commit Burglary Second Degree Terroristic Threatening Conspiracy Second Degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child Criminal Mischief Disorderly Conduct
Anyone with information in reference to the whereabouts of Knox is asked to please contact Troop 5 at 302-337-8253. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet at www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com.
President Trump stood firm Friday on his demands for a border wall after the second White House meeting with congressional leaders this week broke up with no apparent deal, as Democrats exited claiming the president told them the partial government shutdown could last "months, or even years."
In an impromptu Rose Garden address, Trump called the meeting "productive" but indicated he was not shifting on his demand for more than $5 billion for funding for a wall on the southern border, saying it was necessary as the border is a "dangerous, horrible disaster."
"This is national security we’re talking about, we’re not talking about games," he told reporters. “We're not playing games, we have to do it."
But despite Trump saying the meeting was productive and conversations had "come a long way," Democrats were more dour in their assessment. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer exited saying Trump told them "he’d keep the government closed for a very long period of time, months or even years.”
Trump later confirmed in the Rose Garden, "Absolutely I said that," while clarifying he hopes the partial shutdown doesn't last more than a few more days.
Location: Thirsty’s Store 9534 Ocean Hwy Delmar 21875
Suspect: Black Male wearing Blue Jeans, Black Hoodie Jacket and Black mask
Narrative: On the above date and time, Troopers responded to the Thirsty’s Convenience Store located at 9534 Ocean Hwy Delmar, Md 21875 reference an armed robbery. The store clerk stated that a black male wearing blue jeans, black hoodie jacket and as mask over his face entered the store displaying a black handgun. The suspect demanded all the money from the register and the fled on foot out the front door in an unknown direction. Anyone having information is asked to call the Maryland State Police. Investigation is on-going at this time.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen recently announced a significant policy change to stop illegal immigration.
After years of catch and release, loopholes, and poor enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security is moving to plug the holes in the U.S. immigration system, and especially the loopholes that surround the asylum system.
One of the most serious problems the U.S. faces in its immigration system is that when illegal immigrants cross the border, they can claim asylum in order to avoid quick deportation. This is an especially common tactic with illegal immigrants from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Less than 10 percent of these individuals, however, will end up qualifying for asylum.
Congress should have closed this dangerous pathway for the illegal immigration of children years ago, but instead, asylum claims and the illegal immigration of children from Central America has ballooned. The U.S. currently has an asylum backlog of over 786,000 pending cases, which serves neither U.S. interests nor those of asylum seekers with legitimate claims.
So, the administration searched its existing legal authority for ways to stop this phenomenon and found a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the government to return aliens to Mexico while they await their immigration court hearing.
As we welcome 2019, I have a collective New Year's resolution to propose: Let’s offer real and lasting help to our veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. When they volunteered to serve, we promised to care for them if wounded. We must keep that promise.
As many as 11 million Americans suffer with PTSD, and up to 80 percent of those afflicted seek no help. Of the 1.9 million veterans deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, 20 percent or more are affected by PTSD, while the Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 620,000 veterans throughout the system have PTSD. Most remain undiagnosed and untreated.
PTSD is the signature wound of the last 25 years of war. It can precipitate insurmountable struggles with unemployment, homelessness, substance abuse, suicidal depression, and violence. Its victims are consumed; their families are ravaged. Too often, they die young.
It’s reminiscent of another public health crisis. I was in medical school when AIDS was identified, and spent 10 years researching HIV to help develop new medicines. But I see one significant difference between the response to AIDS then and PTSD now: A real movement arose to stop AIDS. Public outcry was loud, the government mobilized meaningful support for drug development, and Congress responded to demands for advanced, accessible care.
But the epidemic of military-related PTSD surges on, with no outrage and no coordinated effort to combat it. Despite broad bipartisan support for veterans and the military, the nation’s response to military-related PTSD is woefully inadequate. When service members and veterans dare to disclose symptoms, they are frequently misdiagnosed or given drugs such as benzodiazepines and opioids that compound their problems. More
Washington is emerging from the holiday season consumed by the ongoing government shutdown. President Trump wants $5 billion for a border wall, Democrats don’t, and neither side appears willing to blink.
The only thing that will save the country from a damaging and prolonged shutdown (although note that there are arguments for letting this happen) is a solution that will allow both sides to save face, a compromise that gives everyone something they want. If both sides are willing, they may be able to move beyond shutdown brinkmanship and give the nation an example of serious leadership that places the common good ahead of political gamesmanship.
Mexico is no stranger to the assassinations of elected officials and candidates for office. And on Tuesday, the latest act of political violence to rock the nation occurred in a town in the southern state of Oaxaca, when the newly sworn in mayor was murdered by a group of gunmen while on his way to his first official meeting.
Alejandro Aparicio Santiago, a member of AMLO's National Regeneration Movement, had only just taken office in the town of Tlaxiaco when he was gunned down, according to the New York Post.
Holding elected office in Mexico is a perilous task. According to one figure, 175 politicians were murdered between September 2017 and August 2018. Aparicio Santiago wasn't the only NRM member to be murdered over the past week: On Sunday, MarÃa Ascención Torres Cruz was murdered in the state of Morelos.
Though AMLO campaigned on ending Mexico's violent war on the drug cartels, and travels around the country in a car with only light security, local politicians are often targeted because they cracked down on corruption and local crime, or because they cut a deal with one cartel and were targeted by that cartel's enemies. In Oaxaca, mayors have been killed in disputes over land.
Oaxaca Gov. Alejandro Murat promised a thorough investigation of the attack, which left four others injured.
Just hours before Democrats were set to take control of the House after the beginning of the 116th Congress, where Pelosi is widely expected to be elected speaker, becoming the first lawmaker to ever serve in the role twice during two non-consecutive terms, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi sat for an interview with the Today Show's Savannah Guthrie where she discussed her position on government shutdown standoff and the prospects for impeaching or indicting President Trump.
After she and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer worked to shut down Democratic efforts to push articles of impeachment against Trump for expressly political reasons (they feared it might impact Democrats' prospects during the midterms), Pelosi has shifted her rhetoric, saying she's now "open" to the idea of impeaching Trump - but that it shouldn't happen for expressly political reasons.
If the Mueller report justifies impeachment proceedings, Pelosi sees no reason why Congress shouldn't pursue it.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Wednesday said he’ll reject legislation proposed by House Democrats to fund nine partially closed government departments without money included for a border wall.
“The legislation that the House Democrats are reportedly planning to introduce and vote on [Thursday] will not be a serious contribution to the negotiations that are ongoing between the administration and the incoming Democratic majority in the House,” McConnell said Wednesday. “It isn’t comprehensive, it ignores the needs of border security, it’s exactly the kind of proposal you’d expect if the incoming House Democrats are choosing to stage a political sideshow rather than doing the hard work of helping govern the country. In other words, a total nonstarter.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping stated outright on Wednesday that Beijing’s goal is to absorb Taiwan and that China could use “force” to achieve the goal if necessary.
Mr. Xi’s comments, which are likely to elevate tension over the prospect of Taiwan’s independence from Communist mainland China, came a day after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen vowed the democracy-oriented island will forever resist the sort of reunification being pushed by Beijing.
“Taiwan will never accept ‘one country, two systems,’ Ms. Tsai said in a speech Tuesday, referencing China’s long-held claim that it’s open to allowing Taiwan to have its own semi-autonomous government as long as the island’s sovereignty is fully folded under Chinese rule.
Mr. Xi dismissed Ms. Tsai’s remarks Wednesday, delivering his own major speech marking the 40 year anniversary of Beijing’s efforts to improve ties with Taiwan, in which the Chinese president urged the Taiwanese to submit to the reality that they “must and will be” reunited with China.
“We make no promise to abandon the use of force, and retain the option of taking all necessary measures,” Mr. Xi said in a speech to Chinese military officials and others gathered in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Failed presidential candidate and soon-to-be-sworn-in U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) took to the Washington Post on Jan. 1 to slam President Donald Trump on New Year’s Day.
“The Trump presidency made a deep descent in December,” Romneyopened his op-ed Tuesday.
He acknowledged his opposition to Trump in the 2016 presidential election, claimed that he had early hope for Trump’s presidency, then lamented that “on balance, his conduct over the past two years, particularly his actions this month, is evidence that the president has not risen to the mantle of the office.”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul attacked Republican Sen.-elect Mitt Romney on Wednesday for virtue signaling. Paul was responding to the 2012 GOP presidential candidate’s Washington Post op-ed, in which Romney attacked President Donald Trump just days before being sworn in as Utah’s junior senator.
“To a great degree, a presidency shapes the public character of the nation. A president should unite us and inspire us to follow ‘our better angels,'” Romney wrote in the piecepublished Tuesday, adding, “And it is in this province where the incumbent’s shortfall has been most glaring.”
President Trump met with Congressional leaders on Wednesday following the holiday break in the White House Situation Room.
Republican and Democrat leaders met with the president today to discuss the continued government shutdown.
House Speaker-Designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) emerged from the meeting with President Trump at the White House Wednesday vowing to pass bills that will re-open the government and stiff the President on border wall funding.
One strange element of the attempted coup against Donald Trump is that no one involved has brought up the name of W. Mark Felt. Or perhaps that’s not so strange.
Mark Felt is a unique figure in American history, an FBI official who actually did bring down a president. The president was Richard M. Nixon, the occasion the legendary Watergate scandal.
A two-year uproar ensued, which the national media, led by the Washington Post, blew up into a full-scale, national-historical constitutional crisis. As legend has it, Nixon was about to tear the Constitution into shreds when a pair of WaPo reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, rode into town on white steeds and with the help of info from a shadowy gnome known only as “Deep Throat” (after a notorious porno flick of the day), blew the conspiracy wide open and sent Nixon packing. That’s the legend, anyway, handed down for decades since, a triumph of all right-thinking folk and a high point of postwar liberalism
For decades afterward, speculation was rife concerning the actual identity of Deep Throat, ranging from Nixon staffer John Dean to a phantom existing only in the caverns of Woodward and Bernstein’s brains. Nobody actually pinned down the real individual, who was W. Mark Felt.
The commission investigating a shooting massacre at a Florida high school unanimously approved its initial findings and recommendations Wednesday, including a controversial proposal that teachers who volunteer and undergo training be allowed to carry guns.
The 15-member Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission’s 446-page report details what members believe happened before, during and after the Feb. 14 shooting attack that left 14 students and three staff members dead and 17 wounded.
The report, which the commission sent to Gov. Rick Scott, incoming governor Ron DeSantis and the Legislature, is also critical of the Broward County sheriff’s deputies who failed to confront suspect Nikolas Cruz, and of Sheriff Scott Israel, whose office did not at the time have a policy requiring them to rush the three-story freshman building where the shooting happened. Israel’s critics hope the report will result in DeSantis suspending Israel shortly after the new governor takes office Tuesday. Israel has said that he has done nothing to warrant his removal.
As the freshman senator from Utah, Mitt Romney is a long way from the presidency. That has to be especially tough on a two-time presidential loser with You-Know-Who sitting in the Oval Office, a guy who took the brass ring by doing the exact opposite of what you did.
My opinion of Mitt Romney has changed over the years. When he lost the Republican nomination to John McCain in 2008, I thought he was a classy guy with a future. When he lost the general election to Barack Obama in 2012, I thought he was a good man with a glass jaw. When he repeatedly got on his high horse to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, I thought he was an opportunistic sleaze bag gorging on sour grapes and his own monstrously selfish sense of virtue.
But now, after reading his Washington Post jihad against Trump, I finally figured what Mitt Romney really is … an idiot.
Romney might have a high IQ, but he’s a political moron.
Let’s first dispel with the idea that Romney wrote this op-ed out of some pressing moral need to condemn Trump’s supposed indecency. Decent people don’t contribute to the far-left Washington Post, a news outlet that published a countless number of lies to sabotage Romney, that attacks the children of Republicans, that tells almost as many lies as CNN. More
House Democrats have inserted language to expand abortion access into a bill to end the partial government shutdown set for a vote Thursday.
The spending bill would repeal a provision instituted by President Trump that requires foreign nongovernmental organizations to certify that they will not “perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning.” The provision, formally known as the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy, was once called the Mexico City Policy, known by critics as the "global gag rule."
The bill also would increase funding by $5 million for the United Nations Population Fund, to $37.5 million. Pro-life organizations oppose the program because they say it participates in coercive abortions and involuntary sterilizations.
The new leader of House Republicans’ largest caucus says he plans to “streamline” its operations to effectively counter the Democrats as they take control of the lower chamber of Congress.
For starters, the Republican Study Committee no longer will have a dozen or so task forces, Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a recent phone interview with The Daily Signal as the group’s incoming chairman.
“We’re going to streamline that into seven core working groups,” Johnson said of the RSC, a caucus of about 178 GOP lawmakers.
After their midterm election victories, Democrats now have 235 seats in the House, compared with Republicans’ 199. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., again became speaker of the House after the 116th Congress convened Thursday.
Johnson, 46, said he sees an opportunity for the Republican Study Committee to build its presence and influence.
“We’re also at the same time going to be working on our messaging strategy because we feel like it’s going to be vitally important, as we move into the minority position in the Congress, to articulate what our conservative ideals and answers are,” Johnson said.
“It will be the counterweight to what Pelosi and the Democrats are going to do,” he said.
Washington, D.C., rang in the new year with five shootings on the first day of 2019, including one homicide.
The New Year’s Day homicide came after a particularly horrific spike in homicides in the nation’s capital in 2018. One-hundred-sixty people died by homicide in the District in 2018, a nearly 40 percent jump over 116 in 2017, reported the Washington Post.
The District’s first homicide occurred in southeast Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night when a man was shot and killed.
Another man is in critical condition after a shooting around noon Tuesday in northeast Washington, D.C., reported WaPo. The man may have been uninvolved in a dispute that escalated and ended with guns being fired, police said.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) ran a troubling report on Wednesday describing how high-powered anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) are now in the hands of terrorist groups thanks to years of outside programs for arming various factions in Syria, including the Obama administration’s effort to arm “white hat” Syrian rebels.
As the Journal recalled, this is the program interventionists excoriated President Donald Trump for ending in 2017, but his concern about terrorist gangs gaining access to advanced weapons appear to have been well-founded. The threat of those weapons turning against American positions is one reason to reduce the American footprint in Syria.
It is not just American-made weapons vanishing into the Syrian quagmire. All of the regional and world powers that tossed weapons into the fighting pits of the Syrian civil war have reason to worry about those weapons coming back to haunt them:
"A U.S. program begun in mid-2013 provided weapons including ATGM missiles to rebels fighting the Assad regime in Syria. President Trump later canceled the program, saying in a 2017 interview with The Wall Street Journal that it allowed weapons to fall into al Qaeda hands.
“There is absolutely the possibility that the U.S. may face some of the same ATGMs it has delivered in the past to the Middle East,” said Omar Lamrani, a senior military analyst with the Austin, Texas-based defense-intelligence firm Stratfor. Islamic State and al Qaeda offshoots, among others, now possess American-made missiles, he added.
The Obama administration was eager to arm the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel faction until the end of 2015 when Russian intervention began turning the tide of the civil war and U.S. attention shifted to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and their battle against the Islamic State.
Dover– The following are not wanted. These are Homeless Sex Offender Public Notifications. If you have information that any of the listed subjects are occupying a residence, please call 302-672-5306. Information may also be provided by calling Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-TIP-3333, via the internet athttp://www.delaware.crimestoppersweb.com.
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The spending bills proposed by House Democrats to end the partial government shutdown offer no funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, but provide over $12 billion more in foreign aid than the Trump administration requested, according to a statement on Thursday from the White House Office of Management and Budget.
The statement warned the new House Democrat majority of President Trump’s intention to veto the bills, noting that the administration “cannot accept legislation that provides unnecessary funding for wasteful programs while ignoring the Nation’s urgent border security needs.”
The statement reiterated President Trump’s request for “at least $5 billion for border security” and asserted that the Democrats’ proposal “does not come close to providing these necessary investments and authorities.”
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D.-Texas) took to the House floor on Dec. 12 to explain why, especially in the Christmas season, a shutdown of the federal government should be avoided.
“This is a season where many in our Nation draw together with families and worship and celebrate,” Jackson Lee said.
“It is a very honored time,” she said. “People of the Christian faith are engaged in the recognition and acknowledgment of the birth of baby Jesus. It is a holy time. It is a time when families need resources. Government workers need to ensure that their families are provided for, but also we must ensure that our government is provided for.
“I thank the Speaker-elect and the Democratic leader in the Senate, the other body, for recognizing that we do not want a shutdown,” said Jackson Lee.
Jackson Lee also expressed her opposition to a border wall.
“I will say to the American people: There is no foreign war or attack at the southern border,” she said.
“To juxtapose a stagnant wall to the lives of those fleeing political persecution is untenable,” Jackson Lee said.
